Electronic entertainment systems are not, as a category, new. Radios, for example, have delivered audio content for more than 75 years. Phonographs have existed for more than 100 years. They have evolved into numerous other pertinent devices which may stand alone or include radio receivers, including (without limitation) removable media tape, CD players and DVD, satellite broadcast receivers and various kinds of fixed-media players such as MP3 players (any of which may be stationary, portable or mobile—e.g., in an automobile or other vehicle). The latter include, for example, various models of the iPod brand of portable music players from Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., the Zen and other players from Creative Technology, Ltd. of Singapore, and so forth.
Some manufacturers have provided base units into which certain specific portable music players of a single manufacturer, such as Apple Computer's iPod players, may be docked to play music recorded on the player via amplifiers and speakers external to the player. In general, such units, however, have a limited range of players they can accept as input. This is somewhat problematic in that when a customer purchases such a product, the customer has little assurance that it will not be made obsolete in relatively short order by the introduction to the market of a new music player or other device. Accordingly, a need exists for an entertainment platform which is not so readily obsolesced. To the extent that attempts have been made to provide a more flexible platform that is useful with multiple and future players, typically a standard plug is provided to plug into an analog audio output jack of the player; and there is only limited external control of the player (e.g., forward, back and play).
A portable digital music player may not only serve as a content source for a loudspeaker(s) via an amplifier (stand alone or in a radio), but also it may serve up music (or other) content via a network, when connected to a base unit which is equipped with a network interface. When such a portable music player is coupled to a radio or to an external amplifier and speaker system, typically the player is controlled via its native user controls. This is often inconvenient, however, as the player must be left connected in a fixed location and the user may wish to sit some distance away, or to move around. Thus, there is an added complication: that of providing remote control of the device. With users often having thousands of songs, instrumental selections or other musical or audio content (hereafter, generally denoted as “songs” irrespective of the nature of the music or other audible content) stored on such a device, there is a considerable challenge to providing remote selection of content while minimizing latency in the process. User satisfaction is closely related to how quickly and easily content may be selected. With current approaches by others, it may typically take what feels like a long time for a user to be able to select a song remotely from an Apple iPod player when the player is connected to a base unit or remote network access device. A user may not “jump” from song to song and may not choose a song through an alphanumeric selection input. Neither does a user see on a remote control a display of a song selection interface screen. We have determined that this relatively slow performance is not well received by potential customers, and that with a large database of songs users would prefer to be able to go directly to a song that is in mind rather than to navigate through a hierarchical maze.
Accordingly, faster and more flexible access to the content of a portable digital music player is desired.
Radio tuners, particularly user interfaces of such tuners, have also changed very little in years. Yet new broadcast modes, such as satellite radio, HD radio and the like present challenges for the integration with AM and FM tuning bands. For both home entertainment systems and automobile entertainment systems, new interfaces are needed to simplify tuning.
Indeed, the automotive environment adds another challenging dimension: safety. With a proliferation of content sources such as CDs; AM, FM and HD radio programming, and satellite radio stations, a driver could be easily distracted and cause an accident. Many years ago, two features were developed to simplify the driver's need for minimal distraction in program selection. First, programmable “preset” buttons were added to automobile radios. Originally, a mechanical mechanism was associated with the buttons, when radios were tuned mechanically. Eventually, the mechanical mechanism was replaced with an electronic tuner with electrical buttons for station presets. Though a limited number of presets were provided, a front seat passenger could still use a conventional tuning control to access any available station beyond those assigned to presets. The second development was the introduction of scan and seek functions to automobile radio tuners. These functions allow a driver (or passenger) to tap a button to advance to the next station in the then-current band, or to advance through stations while stopping on each for a few seconds to allow the user to decide when to stop on a station. The radio may apply a signal level or quality threshold, only stopping on stations meeting the threshold requirement(s). While these functions were welcome additions, they only facilitate in-band content selection.
Thus, in general, improved user interfaces for home and auto entertainment systems are needed.